Rise of evangelical churches turns Brazil into feverish market for Bibles

SAO PAULO – The Bible Belt has moved south – all the way south of the equator to Brazil.

A religious awakening in South America’s biggest country over the past decade, the rapid advance of evangelical churches and smart business planning by publishers have made Brazil a leading publisher of Bibles, with Brazilian publishing officials saying the country is even challenging the United States’ traditional dominance in the field. “All 136 country-chapters of the World Bible Society taken together published 21 million Bibles last year.Our share was 4,2 million,” said Erni Seibert, marketing director of the Brazilian Bible Society.”More Bibles are produced in Brazil than at any of the other Bible societies around the world,” according to Roy Lloyd, a spokesman for the society’s per cent chapter.Meanwhile, Brazil’s traditional publishers printed an additional 1.5 million Bibles in 2003, according to Marino Lobello, vice president of the Brazilian Book Publishers Association.”There is no way to know for certain whether Brazil is the world leader,” said Lobello.”But we sure put out a lot of Bibles!” One reason is a decade-long religious revival led by Bible-quoting evangelical churches.”We base our religion on the Bible,” said Roberto dos Santos, who preaches daily on a dusty square in front of Sao Paulo’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.”We want to get people back to Jesus directly and the way to do that is for everyone to pack a Bible.”Evangelical churches, such as the Assembly of God where Dos Santos preaches, have increased their numbers dramatically in Brazil, which has a population of 180 million.The number of evangelicals rose from 9 per cent of the population in 1991 to 15 per cent in 2000, according to the Brazilian Census Bureau.But the Bible craze is not limited to Protestants.”The charismatic movement among Catholics has a strong foothold in Brazil,” said Seibert.”They put great emphasis on the Bible.”The society, although rooted in Protestantism, also prints Roman Catholic Bibles.”Relations with the Catholic Church are excellent,” Seibert noted.Brazil’s tradition of piety has made the Bible into a kind of status symbol.”As in the United States, virtually everyone here has a family Bible,” said Lobello.But economic factors have also contributed to the Bible boom.”Bibles have never been cheaper,” Seibert said.”I can print a full-text Bible in imitation leather with a binding that will last through 20 years of daily readings for the equivalent of US$3 (about N$20).”How? The Bible Society’s huge printing plant, employing just-in-time management techniques in a Sao Paulo suburb, doesn’t believe in miracles.Instead, its managers rely on economies of scale.”When you print 4,2 million books a year, you can bring the price down,” said Seibert.Another lesson taken from the corporate world is “focus on your core business”.Said Seibert, “We print only Bibles.”But what happens when every Brazilian has one? The society has already thought of that.The answer? Exports.More than a third of Brazil’s annual output of Bibles goes overseas.The Bible Society alone publishes versions in 14 languages.”We don’t do the translations,” Seibert said.”Our sister Bible societies, recognising the cost-effectiveness of our printing operation, give us the templates and we print them.”Along with publishing Bibles in Brazil’s native Portuguese, the society prints the book in the country’s Indian languages – a controversial aspect of the society’s drive to distribute Bibles to all Brazilians but a source of pride for society members.Since its founding in 1948, the Brazilian chapter has translated the Bible into 35 of the 180 known Indian tongues in Brazil, including language communities with as few as 450 members and as many as 35 000.Such languages rarely exist in written form.It takes at least 20 years of day-to-day work with villagers for linguists to develop a written form of a language such as Guarani-mbya, the latest Bible translation released by the society.It takes more decades to complete a Bible translation.The Guarani-mbya version, for example, absorbed 46 years.Critics such as University of Sao Paulo linguist Eduardo de Almeida Navarro call the society’s work a form of cultural intrusion.In an article in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper in June, Navarro wrote that the Guarani-mbya translation “created a hybrid symbolic sphere” for the Indians, one which was “neither wholly theirs nor wholly that of the missionaries.”But Seibert gently rebutted the critique, saying, “We only get involved when a tribe comes to… The end product is a written language that helps the Indians become literate in their own tongue so they can write and preserve their own history and culture.Bible translation is not only about religion; it’s also about literature and culture.”- Nampa-AP”All 136 country-chapters of the World Bible Society taken together published 21 million Bibles last year.Our share was 4,2 million,” said Erni Seibert, marketing director of the Brazilian Bible Society.”More Bibles are produced in Brazil than at any of the other Bible societies around the world,” according to Roy Lloyd, a spokesman for the society’s per cent chapter.Meanwhile, Brazil’s traditional publishers printed an additional 1.5 million Bibles in 2003, according to Marino Lobello, vice president of the Brazilian Book Publishers Association.”There is no way to know for certain whether Brazil is the world leader,” said Lobello.”But we sure put out a lot of Bibles!” One reason is a decade-long religious revival led by Bible-quoting evangelical churches.”We base our religion on the Bible,” said Roberto dos Santos, who preaches daily on a dusty square in front of Sao Paulo’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.”We want to get people back to Jesus directly and the way to do that is for everyone to pack a Bible.”Evangelical churches, such as the Assembly of God where Dos Santos preaches, have increased their numbers dramatically in Brazil, which has a population of 180 million.The number of evangelicals rose from 9 per cent of the population in 1991 to 15 per cent in 2000, according to the Brazilian Census Bureau.But the Bible craze is not limited to Protestants.”The charismatic movement among Catholics has a strong foothold in Brazil,” said Seibert.”They put great emphasis on the Bible.”The society, although rooted in Protestantism, also prints Roman Catholic Bibles.”Relations with the Catholic Church are excellent,” Seibert noted.Brazil’s tradition of piety has made the Bible into a kind of status symbol.”As in the United States, virtually everyone here has a family Bible,” said Lobello.But economic factors have also contributed to the Bible boom.”Bibles have never been cheaper,” Seibert said.”I can print a full-text Bible in imitation leather with a binding that will last through 20 years of daily readings for the equivalent of US$3 (about N$20).”How? The Bible Society’s huge printing plant, employing just-in-time management techniques in a Sao Paulo suburb, doesn’t believe in miracles.Instead, its managers rely on economies of scale.”When you print 4,2 million books a year, you can bring the price down,” said Seibert.Another lesson taken from the corporate world is “focus on your core business”.Said Seibert, “We print only Bibles.”But what happens when every Brazilian has one? The society has already thought of that.The answer? Exports.More than a third of Brazil’s annual output of Bibles goes overseas.The Bible Society alone publishes versions in 14 languages.”We don’t do the translations,” Seibert said.”Our sister Bible societies, recognising the cost-effectiveness of our printing operation, give us the templates and we print them.”Along with publishing Bibles in Brazil’s native Portuguese, the society prints the book in the country’s Indian languages – a controversial aspect of the society’s drive to distribute Bibles to all Brazilians but a source of pride for society members.Since its founding in 1948, the Brazilian chapter has translated the Bible into 35 of the 180 known Indian tongues in Brazil, including language communities with as few as 450 members and as many as 35 000.Such languages rarely exist in written form.It takes at least 20 years of day-to-day work with villagers for linguists to develop a written form of a language such as Guarani-mbya, the latest Bible translation released by the society.It takes more decades to complete a Bible translation.The Guarani-mbya version, for example, absorbed 46 years.Critics such as University of Sao Paulo linguist Eduardo de Almeida Navarro call the society’s work a form of cultural intrusion.In an article in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper in June, Navarro wrote that the Guarani-mbya translation “created a hybrid symbolic sphere” for the Indians, one which was “neither wholly theirs nor wholly that of the missionaries.”But Seibert gently rebutted the critique, saying, “We only get involved when a tribe comes to… The end product is a written language that helps the Indians become literate in their own tongue so they can write and preserve their own history and culture.Bible translation is not only about religion; it’s also about literature and culture.”- Nampa-AP